Characteristics of Coverage By the "Bibliography of Agriculture" of the Literature Relating to Agricultural Research and Development.

Bourne, Charles P.

The report describes the results of a study of the extent and characteristics of coverage of the agricultural literature by the "Bibliography of Agriculture" (B of A). Statistical details regarding the language, national origin, form of publication, and subject coverage were derived from a sample of over 5000 citations from the 1967 issues. The completeness of B of A coverage was determined by finding the extent to which relevant publications listed in other independent sources (e.g. three annual review books, one abstract journal, and several other lists of publications) were cited by B of A. One major finding was that B of A does not appear to provide complete coverage of the literature of interest to agriculture researches. The nominal time lag of B of A coverage was also determined from this sample of citation. Furthermore, based on a related overlap study, a determination was made of the relative time lag of coverage of the same citations by B of A and 15 other secondary services. The major findings of this part of the study was the B of A was slower in its coverage of the literature than most of the other services studied. (Author)